My 2016 NANPA Expressions Top 100 Winner
My “Little Bee Eater Tosses Moth In Air Before Swallowing” image made the top one hundred images in the NANPA Expressions 2016 photo contest. There were around four thousand images submitted, to make the top one hundred is a high honor indeed.
STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE:
We were in Tarangire National Park, the fourth day of our three-week safari. We had driven most of this particular morning and were at the edge of the large Lormakau Swamp. My friend John who organized the trip is a bird photographer like me. As a result, we weren’t just after the big five. In fact, John knew our driver and had especially requested him, because they had built up a good relationship over John’s previous trips to East Africa. Both the guide/driver and John loved birds and shared that love with each other. On the most difficult sightings when they would disagree about the identification, I would keep a mental scorecard of who was right and periodically announce who was ahead. They were very competitive in a friendly way.
John’s wife and I were keeping a bird species list as we went from National Park to National Park. During this particular moment, we were photographing a big bull elephant feeding on the edge of the swamp. On the hillside above the swamp where we were parked, there were several large bushes with open branches on top. Since we had been stationary for quite a while. The little bee-eaters resumed their hunting and sallying from these bushes. They came down the slope sparsely dotted with acacia trees. Important was staying put, this allowed the bee-eaters to become accustomed to our presence. Because they were so close, both John and I were watching this particular bee-eater with our cameras trained on it. When it sallied out it would usually come back to the same perch; we didn’t attempt to track our cameras out trying to get an image of it flying. Our focus remained on the perch when it came back with the moth, we were ready when it tossed the moth into the air, before eating. John and I got the shot. A fortune shot, yes, but those who are prepared and observant do get the prize.
A fortune shot, yes, but those who are prepared and observant do get the prize.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Equipment: Canon D7 body, 600 mm IS f4.0 lens, with a 1.4x Canon III teleconverter, 840 mm at 1/3200 of a sec, f6.3, ISO 1250, Pattern Metering, no flash.
Technique: 600 mm lens mounted on a bean bag from the top of A Safari Type Landrover vehicle.
Processing: Some darkening of the background and slight reduction of overall contrast with Nik Viveza. Raw conversion with Photoshop ARC, some cropping.
NANPA 2016 Bird Winners:
This image is also part of my Wildlife Beyond Borders collection. You can view the rest of the images here. My Astounding World of Birds.
Also, you can find more information about this incredible collection of images at our Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/wildlifebeyondborders/
Congratulations! Fabulous image! Anne Conlon
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Thank you, Anne. Bird, wildlife, and nature photography is my passion, my life, and captures my heart and spirit. I love sharing this passion with others, inspiring a deeper connection to the earth and its wild inhabitants. If you have any questions or want to get some advice, please let me know. Best regards, Bruce